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"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." -Cicero

Another survivor of the attack, who was a senior airman at the time and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he feels betrayed that Mr. al-Amiri would be allowed into the White House.
“Given Hadi al-Amiri’s ties to terrorism and potential knowledge of those who committed the yet-unsolved FBI investigation into the brazen murder of 19 USAF airmen at Khobar Towers, his presence in the White House was nothing short of insulting to those who both lost family members and those who survived the horrific attack,” he said.
“It wouldn’t matter whether it was a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, it was just wrong.”
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican and chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday in a letter to President Obama that she had “grave concern” about the White House’s decision to host Mr. al-Amiri.
“Al-Amiri should have no part in a successful future in Iraq, and is unfit to receive a presidential audience,” Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen wrote.
Former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh this week said he was unaware of any evidence linking Mr. al-Amiri to the plot to attack the Khobar Towers. However, he said FBI agents would like to interview Mr. al-Amiri regarding what he knew of purported Iranian involvement in the plot.
As a commander of the Badr Corps, Mr. al-Amiri would have known Brig. Gen. Ahmad Sherifi, the Revolutionary Guard general who is suspected of conducting the attack, he added.Mr. al-Amiri was commander of the Badr Corps, which was the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
The Badr Corps was made up of thousands of defectors from the Iraqi army and refugees who fled Saddam Hussein’s regime. It received military and financial support from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
In 2003, the Badr Corps changed its name to the Badr Organization of Reconstruction and Development and pledged to disarm. Western officials and analysts are skeptical about whether the group kept its promise.Mr. al-Amiri remained active in the Badr Corps during the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was working on resistance efforts against Saddam’s regime.Eric Ziegler was an Air Force staff sergeant when he lived at the Khobar Towers in June 1996. All four of his roommates — Airman 1st Class Brent E. Marthaler, Technical Sgt. Patrick P. Fennig, Senior Airman Jeremy A. Taylor and Technical Sgt. Thanh V. Nguyen — were killed in the attack.Mr. Ziegler, who has since retired, said he was appalled that the Iraqi prime minister would include Mr. al-Amiri in his delegation to Washington.
“To have someone like him here and then not be able to interrogate him is a slap in the face,” he said in a phone interview from Phoenix.
The attack took a heavy toll on Mr. Ziegler’s life. His marriage collapsed, and he drifted from one job to the next.
“It changed my life. I relive it every day, but I refuse to let the terrorists win,” he said.